Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
acceptedVersion
Publication Date
4-2018
Abstract
This paper explores how Buddhist groups in Sri Lanka attempt to suppress conversion to Christianity. Conversion to Christianity can dilute the power and legitimacy of Buddhist groups, which has caused them to promote a discourse of ‘unethical’ conversion. My argument is that such a discourse is self-Orientalising in nature, and is designed to enable the (re)production of Buddhist hegemony in Sri Lanka. By constructing Buddhists as vulnerable and in need of protection, the hegemonic actions of Buddhist groups are validated. These constructions serve to restrict the religious (and socio-cultural) mobility of Buddhists, and to legitimise the persecution of Christians through both legislative and violent means. Sensitivity to the effects of self-Orientalism reveals the need for more critical readings of the effects of religious protectionism on both the Christian other, and the national self as well.
Keywords
Buddhist hegemony, evangelical Christianity, Religious conversio, n religious mobility, self-Orientalism, Sri Lanka
Discipline
Asian Studies | Religion
Research Areas
Humanities
Publication
Religion
Volume
48
Issue
2
First Page
215
Last Page
235
ISSN
0048-721X
Identifier
10.1080/0048721x.2017.1402831
Publisher
Elsevier / Taylor & Francis (Routledge): SSH Titles
Citation
WOODS, Orlando.(2018). (Re)producing Buddhist hegemony in Sri Lanka: Advancing the discursive formations of self-Orientalism, religious (im)mobility and 'unethical' conversion. Religion, 48(2), 215-235.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/2425
Copyright Owner and License
Author
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1080/0048721x.2017.1402831